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Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg is flexing his campaign muscle in Iowa, with plans to expand field offices and hire more staff to organize around the state.

Buttigieg will open 20 offices in Iowa in 20 days, campaign officials told the Des Moines Register. He’ll also have 98 paid staffers on the ground by the end of the first week of September, with additional hires expected.

Buttigieg began launching the brick and mortar spaces Monday, with back-to-back office openings in Cedar Rapids and Iowa City.

"This is our first opportunity to demonstrate that when we rally around a progressive vision of what it means to honor freedom, security, democracy, fairness, faith and family in this country, that that is a winning message," he said to applause at the Cedar Rapids office opening. "This is our chance to prove it. And that starts with you. That starts with the folks who are gathered here."

Pete Buttigieg, mayor of South Bend, Indiana, smiles while being welcomed by volunteers before speaking at a campaign office opening, Monday, Sept. 2, 2019, in Iowa City, Iowa.(Photo: Joseph Cress/Iowa City Press-Citizen)

The moves represent a major ramp up in the first-in-the-nation caucus state for the South Bend, Indiana, mayor, who previously had one office in Des Moines. He had 62 staffers in Iowa as of mid-August.

Buttigieg is expanding in Iowa as the still-crowded Democratic presidential field enters the frenetic fall campaign season. Several top-tier 2020 hopefuls also have plans to expand their Iowa operations, according to county chairs who have spoken to campaigns in recent weeks.

Buttigieg’s investment has been months in the making and was timed for the start of the fall season. The Polk County Democrats’ Steak Fry, a key fundraiser set for Sept. 21, traditionally marks a new stage in the presidential caucus cycle.

“We’re about to flip the switch here and turn this thing into overdrive,” said Jess O’Connell, a senior adviser to Buttigieg who is focused on the early voting states.

An uptick in visits to Iowa

Buttigieg, 37, has kept a busy schedule in Iowa over the summer.

His Labor Day stop, which included a picnic event with Democrats in Cedar Rapids and a walking tour with local officials to discuss flooding, marked his eighth visit to the state since the beginning of July, according to the Register’s candidate tracker.

Pete Buttigieg, mayor of South Bend, Indiana, waves to a young supporter during an event after opening a campaign office, Monday, Sept. 2, 2019, at College Green Park in Iowa City, Iowa. Joseph Cress/Iowa City Press-Citizen

An American flag with a sign for Pete Buttigieg, mayor of South Bend, Indiana, is pictured hanging from a balcony across the street while he speaks during an event, Monday, Sept. 2, 2019, at College Green Park in Iowa City, Iowa. Joseph Cress/Iowa City Press-Citizen

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In the preceding three months, Buttigieg made a total of three multi-day visits to Iowa. Buttigieg visited Iowa twice in February and March during the exploratory period of his campaign.

Buttigieg’s latest visits to Iowa have taken him around the state to candidate forums, house parties, meet and greets and town halls. He has talked in Council Bluffs about health care, toured small businesses in Waterloo, and spoken at the Register Political Soapbox at the Iowa State Fair. Less than two weeks ago, he led a town hall in Des Moines on reproductive rights before addressing labor organizers a few miles away.

"There’s no question, having gone from total obscurity in the beginning of the year to needing to win in less than six months, that we’ve got a lot of work to do," he said. "We’ve got that sense of urgency, and we’ve got the tools and most importantly the people that we need in order to make that happen.”

Buttigieg told the Register in a July interview that Iowa has always been central to his campaign, which began with just a handful of staffers and now has more than 300 nationwide. Buttigieg alluded to what several campaign staffers have emphasized privately in recent days.

“We’re entering into a different phase. You know, there was a lot in the beginning about getting known here, but also nationally. A lot about putting together the resources we need in order to win,” Buttigieg said, a nod to his nearly $25 million haul in fundraising in the second quarter of the year. “Now we’ve been able to do a lot of that work in the first half of this year. We’re going to spend the second half of this year putting those resources to work on the ground.”

Relational outreach

The strategy was on display recently in Iowa City.

In a two-story house near the University of Iowa campus, a group of about 15 volunteers sat in mismatched chairs in a living room littered with Buttigieg campaign signs on the wall. An oversized cutout of Buttigieg’s face leaned against a window in the nearby dining room.

Two Buttigieg field organizers stood in a corner of the living room. After a quick icebreaker, they gave detailed instructions to the group about the best way to reach out to their closest family and friends. Their goal for the group: talk about Buttigieg. If not an introduction about the candidate, maybe a specific policy that they believe can resonate. This night, they were encouraged to highlight his upcoming visit.

After those instructions, the group scattered around the house. A few sat on chairs in the nearby screened-in porch. One sat on the porch's wooden floor. A few others went into the fenced-in backyard, where a dog named Fin and a cat known as Feather sniffed around as the volunteers dialed.

Sarah Prineas, who had offered up her home for the phone banking session, was having trouble getting service on her cellphone. But her text messages were going through, and soon she was having a real-time, back-and-forth chat with a male friend. He told her via text that he would consider going to the Iowa City office opening.

Prineas, a 52-year-old writer who has worked on other local campaigns, said she was impressed with how the Buttigieg campaign has organized outreach.

“It's more effective, and it's more respectful of everyone's time,” she said.

An outsized cutout of Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg's face leans against a window as field staffers nearby lead an organizing event on Thursday, Aug. 29, 2019, in Iowa City.(Photo: Barbara Rodrigues)

This “relational phone banking,” as the campaign describes it, is Buttigieg’s way of making more memorable connections with Iowans who are currently being inundated with phone calls from multiple campaigns.

"We're not just reaching out to people who were likely caucusgoers, who have previously caucused. We're reaching out to anyone in someone's network," said Greta Carnes, national organizing director for Buttigieg. "Which is a cool way to probably bring in a lot more folks into the fold, but also a way that we think we can have deeper, more meaningful conversations about Pete and about this election."

Bryce Smith, chair of the Dallas County Democrats, understands that approach. Smith said the crowded field will require creativity in reaching new caucusgoers. Smith introduced Buttigieg at a house party in Adel in May, though Smith does not plan to endorse a candidate until closer to February.

“We can’t rely off the same little pool of fish, and then divide it eight ways,” he said. “Because no one is going to win the caucus.”

Andy Coghill-Behrends looked down at a white piece of paper that he had been scribbling on at the Iowa City home. The 48-year-old social worker had attended earlier phone banking sessions for Buttigieg and wanted to branch out beyond his circle of confidants. He planned to call someone he knew had voted for President Donald Trump in 2016.

"One of the things that Pete really emphasizes is listening and dialogue and consensus building," said Coghill-Behrends, who caucused for U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont in 2016 and now is all in for Buttigieg. "That's one of the things that I really value, because we've got some very serious problems in our country right now, and we're not going to be able to fix them unless we're able to work together."

The campaign is also doing the kind of traditional outreach that has long been a staple in presidential politics, including door knocking and cold-call phone banking. A scan of the campaign’s events page for volunteers also previews meetups at a weekly farmers' market in Sioux City, a community event in Fairfield and a block party in Davenport. The same day of the phone banking in Prineas' house, a field organizer in Des Moines was texting Iowans to set up one-on-one coffee meetings.

Stagnant polling

After a breakout performance at a televised CNN town hall in March, Buttigieg was the focus of national profile pieces that translated into a boost of coverage and polling.

In mid-June, the fatal shooting in South Bend of a black man by a white police officer placed a spotlight on how Buttigieg has handled police and community relations. He faced criticism that he hasn't done enough to hire more black police officers, which he addressed in the first Democratic debate. In July, he released The Douglass Plan, a policy aimed at addressing systemic racism in various areas including education and housing.

Since then various polls, including a Monmouth Poll conducted in Iowa last month, place Buttigieg behind other top-tier candidates.

Nancy Emrich, a 69-year-old from Mount Vernon, heard Buttigieg speak at his Cedar Rapids office opening. The former fundraising consultant was impressed with Buttigieg's expansion in Iowa, and she thinks he'll need visit the state often to keep up the momentum.

“He needs to be that present in Iowa to get people to understand him, and not just see him as a category,” she said. “He needs to be seen and heard.”

Pete Buttigieg, mayor of South Bend, Indiana, waves to a young supporter during an event after opening a campaign office, Monday, Sept. 2, 2019, at College Green Park in Iowa City, Iowa.(Photo: Joseph Cress/Iowa City Press-Citizen)

O’Connell, who joined the Buttigieg campaign over the summer, is keenly aware of the polls. She’s seen them spike for different candidates at different times, around debates and other breaking news.

O’Connell believes with five months before the caucuses, the polls offer limited clues about the outcome of the race. She thinks Buttigieg, who has qualified for the upcoming Democratic primary debate, resonates with voters most when they learn his background and meet him in person.

“The reality is, people are holding open space to learn more about these candidates. And I think that benefits Mayor Pete,” she said.

Barbara Rodriguez covers health care and politics for the Register. She can be reached by email at bcrodriguez@registermedia.com or by phone at 515-284-8011. Follow her on Twitter @bcrodriguez.

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